D132 -- Rockin' out at St. Sulpice

We went to noon mass at St. Sulpice today. For you Da Vinci Code fans out there it's the one in the book with the obelisk. It's less than a block away from our apartment and we'd heard on a travel show that they have a great pipe organ there, so we decided to head there instead of Notre Dame. Yeah, you read right, a pipe organ - we are thrill-seekers who live on the wild side here in Europe.

There's a really large square with a fountain outside the church where people hang out. The church was beautiful inside, and the music was cool (and a little creepy, actually), but the interior was in very bad shape compared to other churches we've visited. Many of the paintings adorning the chapels were almost black with age. We were welcomed warmly by the priest (in French of course) and thanks to the ritualistic nature of mass we were able to follow along just fine. We were surprised by a couple of things, though. One was how few people attended. We were in this huge Gothic church and there were maybe only 35 people there. Second, people only put change in the collection basket. We were the only ones who actually put folding money in. Thomas' reaction: “No wonder the church is in such bad shape!”

After mass we had some delicious Italian food. Even though we are headed to Italy soon we just couldn't resist. Funny thing about restaurants here – they all charge four or five Euro for sodas, but you can get a carafe of good quality house wine for the same price. Bad for Coke-loving Thomas, great for alcohol-loving me.

Thomas had been in a funky mood all day, so he went for a walk along the banks of the Seine to enjoy the beautiful Parisian scenery and I stayed home to provide us both with some alone time. For a couple that typically spent 50% of our time living in separate states, the last five months have been quite a change.



After he got back we went for a run in beautiful Luxembourg Gardens, which are just down the street from our apartment. Isn't my ability to take pictures while running phenomenal? Actually, I took this on another visit to the garden. It's a favorite place of Parisians for sitting and reading, socializing, and publicly displaying some serious affection. I passed by one lip-locked couple in their thirties and when I ran by again 15 minutes later they were still going at it. Besides the palace, the gardens, the fountains, the people sailing toy boats, and the lip-locked couples, I enjoyed passing by the temporary art exhibits throught the grounds. Some of them were a bit odd, but fun nonetheless.

-Elva